Unless otherwise specified, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this disclosure and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Advancements in technology and computing have contributed to a recent increase in the development and overall use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A UAV is an aircraft that can operate without an on-board human operator. Sometimes referred to as a “drone” or an “unmanned aerial system,” a UAV can take various forms, such as a helicopter, quadcopter, fixed-wing aircraft, blimp, or glider, and can be used for various applications, such as capturing an image or video of an area from an aerial perspective.
A UAV can operate in one or more modes, such as a remote-control mode, an autonomous mode, or a semi-autonomous mode. While the UAV is operating in a remote-control mode, a remotely-located operator can operate the UAV. While the UAV is operating in an autonomous mode, a computing system onboard the UAV can operate the UAV. Finally, while the UAV is operating in a semi-autonomous mode, a remotely-located operator can cause the UAV to perform some operations, and a computing system onboard the UAV can cause the UAV to perform other operations. For instance, the operator can instruct the UAV to navigate to a particular location, and the computing system can cause the UAV to autonomously navigate to that location.